Don't Worry

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Come on, Choromatsu..." Ichimatsu mumbled, petting his brother on the back as they stood in front of Osomatsu's grave.

Rain poured down from the ominous clouds in heavy sheets as Choromatsu sat at his eldest brother's grave, whimpering with his arms wrapped around the stone.

"It's all over now," Karamatsu said sadly, shaking his head. "This marks the beginning of a new chapter in our lives."

"A chapter without Osomatsu nii-san..." Jyushimatsu said, an actual tear running down his face.

"It's not going to be easy for any of us, Choromatsu," Todomatsu said as he sat down beside his brother, trying to comfort him. "But we're all here for each other, you know. You don't have to cry alone anymore."

Choromatsu sniffed, but remained silent, allowing his emotions to get the best of his already shattered heart.

A streak of lightning ran down the sky, and Ichimatsu let out a small, surprised gasp.

"I'm going home..." Ichimatsu mumbled, walking over to Jyushimatsu. "The weather is getting worse..."

"The clouds must have come to carry Osomatsu's soul away," Karamatsu said seriously, but everyone else just ignored him.

"Choromatsu," Todomatsu said, tapping his older brother on the shoulder. "You'll get sick if you stay out here in the rain like this. Come on, let's go home. We can have some tea and do as we wish. There's no need to linger over Osomatsu's death. I hate to put it to you like this, but he's not going to be coming back. The only thing we can do is remember him. That is, remember all the things we loved about him."

Choromatsu stared at Todomatsu for several seconds, rain and tears soaking his face, then went back to staring at Osomatsu's name engraved in the new stone.

"Let's go, Todomatsu," Karamatsu said as Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu already started on their way home. "You can't make him leave."

"I want to help him..." Todomatsu said sympathetically, getting up from beside Choromatsu. "I understand how it feels to lose the one person who meant the entire world to you."

"Oh?" Karamatsu said, raising his eyebrows. "Who was it?"

"Oh, it happened a long time ago..." Todomatsu said, letting out a small nervous laugh as he began to walk away with his older brother.

"We're alone now, Osomatsu..." Choromatsu thought, rubbing his finger back and fourth across the three characters in his brother's name. "But this isn't how I wanted it to be...at all..."

"The handkerchief...." a voice inside Choromatsu's head suddenly whispered, reminding him of something he had completely forgotten about his entire time in America.

Reaching into his hoodie pocket, Choromatsu pulled out his brother's handkerchief and held it over his heart, tears running down his face once again.

"You're still in my heart," Choromatsu thought, trying to comfort himself. But, of course, he failed as he continued to think. "But that will never make your promise come true. You'll never be back. Never. Never again will I see you rub under your nose, grinning like you have all the time in the world. I'll never get to hear you make sarcastic comments to us again. I'll never get to hear your comforting voice again, telling me not to worry, and that everything will be okay. Now that your gone, my life has no purpose again...and there's really no point...in me living without you here. I can't live or breathe without you, Osomatsu..."

Several hours later...

Choromatsu stumbled inside the house, drenched from head to toe, his eyes still just as red and swollen as they could be. Yet in his hand, he held tightly to his brother's handkerchief, almost as if he were actually holding Osomatsu's hand.

"Choromatsu!" Karamatsu and Jyushimatsu exclaimed, running up to their brother as he ran blindly into the wall. He was acting drunk, but his brothers knew he wasn't. If he were drunk, he would be puking as well.

"Get some towels!" Karamatsu yelled at Ichimatsu and Todomatsu. "He doesn't need to get sick!"

Karamatsu grabbed Choromatsu and dragged him down the hall, into the living room, and gently picked him up and placed him back down on the sofa in a sitting position.

"Jyushimatsu," Karamatsu said, "Go get some ramen or something for Choromatsu. He's ice cold. We need to warm him up."

"Okay," Jyushimatsu said with a brisk nod of his head, running out of the room.

And at the exact same time, Ichimatsu and Todomatsu both entered the living room and handed the towels to Karamatsu.

"He'll get over it, won't he?" Ichimatsu mumbled, staring somewhat sympathetically at his brother. "Or will this last for months...?"

And last for months it did. In fact, Choromatsu's sorrow lasted for an entire year...